Insurance processing system and method using mobile devices for proof of ownership

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods and apparatus for creating, analyzing and updating a property inventory are disclosed which include receiving, from a user operating a mobile device, a request to add a new item of property to an insurance inventory associated with an insurance policy, the request including information identifying the new item, at least a first image of the new item, and information identifying a location of the new item. An insurance inventory system is operated to add the new item to an insurance inventory associated with the insurance policy, the updating including computing a total current value of the insurance inventory including the new item. A coverage engine is operated to compare coverage limits associated with the insurance policy to the total current value of the insurance inventory to determine if the total current value is within a coverage limit of the insurance policy. A response is transmitted to the user based on the determination.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is based on, and claims benefit and priority of,U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/291,501 filed on Dec.31, 2009, and is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/754,189, filed on Apr. 5, 2010, the contents of each of which areincorporated herein in their entirety for all purposes.

FIELD

Embodiments relate to insurance processing systems and methods. Moreparticularly, embodiments relate to insurance processing using mobiledevices to create property inventories, establish proof of ownership andanalyze and update insurance coverage.

BACKGROUND

Many types of insurance coverage, such as those for personal orcommercial property, have coverage terms and conditions in which theinsurer will reimburse the insured for damage or loss to personalproperty items (in the case of personal lines insurance policies) or fordamage or loss to commercial property items such as inventory orequipment (in the case of commercial lines policies). For example, if anitem of personal property is stolen or damaged, many insurance policiesmay reimburse the insured so that the insured may obtain a suitablereplacement. Similar coverage is provided for businesses. For example, aretailer may carry a commercial lines policy which covers the retailer'sinventory in the case of loss or damage. Often, however, it can bedifficult for an insurer to verify that an item of property was, infact, owned by the insured. In the case of businesses, such asretailers, it is difficult to verify what items were actually in theretailer's inventory at the time of a loss, as inventories change on adaily basis.

Further, many losses arise from events such as fires or floods. In suchsituations, it can be difficult for an insured to remember all of theitems that may have been lost or damaged. It is also difficult to locatereceipts, or otherwise locate evidence of ownership or value. It wouldbe desirable to provide systems and methods for insurance policy holdersto create and maintain an inventory of personal property. It wouldfurther be desirable to allow the use of such an inventory to documentclaims in the event of a loss.

Insurance policies have coverage limits and exclusions. For example, ahomeowner policy may cover up to $100,000 of personal property items (a“coverage limit”) but will not cover fine art (an “exclusion”).Insurance policy holders often do not know if the value of theirpersonal property exceeds these limits or what items are excluded fromcoverage. It would be desirable to provide systems and methods to alertpolicy holders if the value of covered items exceeds the coverage limitsof an existing policy, or if an item is excluded from coverage. It wouldfurther be desirable to provide systems and methods to price and providecoverage based on the current value of property owned by an insured.

It would further be desirable to provide systems and methods which allowthe creation and updating of such proof of ownership data to becollected and updated using mobile devices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system architecture within which some embodimentsmay be implemented.

FIG. 2 illustrates a mobile system architecture within which someembodiments may be implemented.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an insurance system pursuant to someembodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram depicting a proof of ownership process pursuantto some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a partial functional block diagram of a mobile device andsystem provided in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the mobile device of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram depicting a proof of ownership system pursuantto some embodiments.

FIG. 8 depicts a portion of a policy database table pursuant to someembodiments.

FIG. 9 depicts a portion of an inventory database table pursuant to someembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods forestablishing evidence or information about insured items for use inproof of insurance and for use in analyzing and/or updating coverage.Embodiments provide applications and mobile devices to allow the ready,convenient and accurate collection, submission, storage and analysis ofinformation about items of property for insurance purposes. Embodimentsrelate to both personal insurance as well as commercial insurance (aswell as other types of insurance where property, including inventory orequipment is insured, such as in bailment situations where an entityholds inventory or property for delivery to others).

As used herein, the term “property” or “insured property” is used torefer to items that are insured (or are to be insured or are claimed tobe insured) including items of personal property (in the case ofpersonal lines insurance) as well as items of commercial property (suchas inventory, equipment, or the like, in the case of commercial linesinsurance).

As used herein, the term “user” is used to refer to an operator of amobile device (or other data collection system) which is operated tocollect, report or otherwise provide information about items of propertyto an insurer or agent of an insurer. For example, a “user”, in the caseof a personal lines insurance policy, may be a homeowner, a renter, orthe like, who operates a mobile device configured pursuant to thepresent invention to collect and provide information about items ofpersonal property. As another example, a “user”, in the case of acommercial lines insurance policy, may be an employee, owner, or otheroperator of one or more mobile devices (or other data collectionsystems) configured pursuant to the present invention to collect andprovide information about items of commercial property (such as items ofinventory, equipment or the like).

In some embodiments, mobile devices, such as smart phones, tabletcomputers, or other portable communication and computing devices, areprovided with software (referred to herein as “applications,” “mobileapplications,” or “mobile insurance applications”) that allow users toeasily collect, submit, store information about items of property thatare (or will be) covered by one or more insurance policies. Further,embodiments allow users to be notified of situations when there isinsufficient insurance coverage for an item, and, if needed, allow theuser to obtain additional insurance coverage. For example, in someembodiments, users may operate mobile devices operating a mobileapplication to capture information about items of property. The mobiledevice may then be used to transmit the information to an insurancecompany or other entity for storage in an inventory database associatedwith the user. Further, in some embodiments, an analysis or evaluationof the user's inventory or each item may occur to determine if theuser's insurance coverage is sufficient. In some embodiments, the usermay apply for and obtain additional coverage based on the determination.

Pursuant to some embodiments, the pricing, exclusions and/or coveragelimits of an insurance policy may be updated based on the current valueof items in an inventory. For example, in the case of a commercial linespolicy for a retailer, some embodiments allow daily, weekly or otherregular updates to a policy based on the value of items owned by theretailer, which may vary as the retailer adds items to inventory andsells items from inventory. In this manner, a retailer may enjoycoverage which accurately reflects the retailer's actual inventory aswell as policy pricing which varies as the inventory turns over. Asanother example, in the case of a personal lines insurance policy whichexcludes coverage for fine art, or high-value jewelry, some embodimentsnotify an insured that an item of property is excluded from coveragewhen the insured attempts to add it to a property inventory. In someembodiments, a rider to extend coverage (and to cover the excluded item)may be provided (either automatically or in response to furtherinteraction with the insured).

The result is a system and method that provides improved information forprocessing claims associated with items of property, as well as aconvenient and efficient method of tracking items of property. Further,embodiments allow users to maintain (and obtain) sufficient levels ofinsurance coverage based on the current or replacement value of theuser's items of property.

Pursuant to some embodiments of the present invention, users who provideinformation about their items of property using features of the presentinvention may be entitled to reduced premiums or may qualify for otherinsurance-related benefits. For example, pursuant to some embodiments, auser who has provided information about items of property, and who thensuffers a loss related to one of those items of property, may receivesubstantially immediate processing of a claim, with reduced claimprocessing requirements. As another example, users who use features ofthe present invention to prove that the user has taken certain steps tosecure the property (e.g., such as by the installation of a qualifiedalarm system, etc.) may enjoy improved benefits, such as a reduceddeductible, reduced premium, or the like. As a still further example,users may utilize features of the present invention to prove that theyhave taken appropriate care in maintaining or using items of property.As a specific example, a homeowner or retailer whose insurance requiresthat a room or product be kept at a certain minimum temperature may usethe mobile insurance application to take a periodic measurement of thestatus of the room or item.

Features of some embodiments will now be described by reference to FIG.1, which is a block diagram of an insurance processing system 100pursuant to some embodiments. As shown in FIG. 1, a system 100 includesa mobile device 104 in communication with an insurance company 102. Themobile device 104 is coupled to capture or otherwise receive data andinformation associated with one or more items of property 106 associatedwith an insurance policy issued by insurance company 102. The insurancecompany 102 operates systems to process insurance policies based on theproperty data received from the mobile device 104. For example, theinsurance company 102 operates systems to store and track property dataon behalf of users (e.g., storing the data in an inventory system 108)as well as systems to analyze coverage based on the value or nature ofitems of property identified using the present invention (e.g., using acoverage engine 110). In some embodiments, the coverage engine 110and/or the inventory system 108 may be operated or maintained byentities other than the actual insurer, such as, for example, an agentof the insurance company 102 or other service provider. For ease ofexposition, however, the systems and processes herein will be describedas being performed by an insurance company 102.

Pursuant to some embodiments, a mobile insurance application may bestored in, or accessible to, a memory of mobile device 104 which allowsa user of the mobile device to take an inventory of items to be coveredby an insurance policy issued by the insurance company 102. For example,homeowners or renters often seek insurance coverage for personalproperty contained within their home. Frequently, however, the insureddoes not have proof that they owned certain items allegedly covered by apolicy, and when a loss occurs, it can be difficult to prove to aninsurer that an item was actually owned by the insured. This can beparticularly difficult with respect to high value items.

As another example, businesses, such as retailers, often seek insurancecoverage for their inventory. A jewelry store, for example, may seekcoverage for their inventory of rings and jewelry. Such coverage istypically priced and issued based on an expected level of inventoryvalue. For example, a jewelry store that expects to stock an average of$1,000,000 of inventory will seek coverage for $1,000,000 of inventory.Often, however, the retailer may have substantially less inventory thanaverage (such as after a successful sale, or before receipt of a newshipment) or substantially more inventory than average (such as prior toa sale, during a slow sales period, or after receipt of a new shipment).In such cases, it would be desirable to provide more accurate insurancepricing that reflects the actual current value of the inventory.Embodiments allow such a business (operating one or more mobile devices104) to provide current inventory information to insurance company 102.The current inventory information may be used by the insurance company102 to adjust an insurance premium or coverage limits as well as toprocess any claims that may relate to a loss suffered by the business.

Embodiments of the present invention allow an insured to download andinteract with a mobile insurance application on their mobile device 104which lets them create an inventory of items. The inventory may bestored in or accessible to the insurance company 102 (e.g., such as inan inventory system 108). The inventory system 108 may store a number ofdifferent items of information about each item (including, for example,a photo of the item, a photo or scan of a receipt for the item, and/orother item descriptive information). In some embodiments, geotag dataand time stamp data are also associated with the item for additionalproof of ownership and possession. The inventory system 108 may serve asa central repository or may be coupled to archival systems to maintainthe data for use by the insurance company 102 and the user.

In some embodiments, when an insured purchases or acquires a new itemfor which insurance coverage is sought, the insured operates the mobiledevice 104 using the mobile insurance application and registers the newitem. The registration may include information identifying the item (oran item type) as well as, in some embodiments, the purchase price, apurchase receipt, etc. In some embodiments, the insured may providegeneral information about an item, and further data may be generated orcollected by the inventory system 108. For example, in some embodiments,an insured need not always provide purchase price information. Instead,the inventory system 108 may assign a default or estimated price to anitem based on the descriptive information provided by the insured. Inexchange for promptly providing such information, an insurance company102 may provide benefits, such as a commitment to process any lossclaims more quickly, additional replacement coverage, or the like.

In some embodiments, when a new item is added to an insured's inventoryusing the mobile insurance application of the present invention, anunderwriting process may be invoked or triggered to analyze theinsured's policy and existing inventory to determine if sufficientcoverage limits are in place to fully cover the new item as well as theexisting inventory. For example, in a situation where the invention isused in a personal lines situation, if an insured currently has $100,000of personal property in her inventory, and acquires a new custom-builtbicycle that is worth $10,000, the underwriting module may determinewhether her existing policy is adequate to cover $110,000 of personalproperty in the event of a loss. If the current policy is inadequate,and an additional rider or coverage is required, embodiments allow theinsured to obtain such additional coverage by interacting with themobile insurance application on the mobile device 104. The underwritingprocess may also evaluate whether the item (or items) to be added areexcluded by one or more policy exclusions. If so, embodiments may allowthe insured to obtain additional coverage by interacting with the mobileinsurance application on the mobile device 104 to obtain a rider orother extension of coverage to ensure the item(s) are adequatelyinsured.

As another example, in a situation where the invention is used in acommercial lines situation, if an insured business has coverage for upto $1,000,000 of inventory, and takes delivery of a shipment of newinventory valued at $500,000, the underwriting module may determinewhether the business' existing policy is adequate to cover the newinventory in addition to any existing inventory. If the current policyis inadequate, and an additional rider or coverage is required,embodiments allow the insured to obtain such additional coverage byinteracting with the mobile application on the mobile device 104. Insome embodiments, additional systems may be used to report the status ofinventory. For example, in some embodiments, a retailer may transmitinventory information (including additions as well as reductions frominventory) to the insurance company 102 via an inventory managementsystem operated by or on behalf of the retailer. In this manner, insuredbusinesses can transmit up to date and accurate inventory information tothe insurance company 102.

Pursuant to some embodiments, the entry or update of item data using thepresent invention may trigger or invoke an underwriting or otheranalysis process to analyze the user's current (or potential) insurancepolicy coverage to determine if there are any gaps in coverage or if theuser is over insured. The analysis may also be invoked or requested by auser on an as needed basis. For example, in one illustrative embodiment,the mobile insurance application may be invoked by the user to analyzethe user's current insurance coverage limits. For example, a user who isa homeowner may perform an inventory (as described above) to determinethe total value of her personal property items and then request acoverage analysis pursuant to the present invention. Similar processingmay be performed by commercial users.

While the present invention is described above as being for use ininventorying and analyzing items of personal or commercial property, insome embodiments features may be used to analyze coverage of realproperty as well. For example, in some embodiments, the user may providedetails about her real property to determine if her policy is sufficientto cover her current property value. In some embodiments, this analysismay involve the use of external data from third party data sources toassess the current value of an insured's property. For example, in oneembodiment, where the user wishes to analyze the coverage for a home,the user will interact with the mobile insurance application on hermobile device 104 and provide detailed information about the property.In some embodiments, if the user has registered the application, some ofthe property data will be retrieved from an existing policy at theinsurance provider.

The user may also provide information about any upgrades or enhancementsmade to the property. Then, the application uses the information toobtain one or more comparative values from homes that have been sold inthe user's neighborhood to generate an estimated value of the insured'sproperty. In some embodiments, the estimate may be retrieved fromexisting sources, such as from the website www.zillow.com. Once anestimate of the insured's property is obtained, the mobile insuranceapplication transmits the data (plus the value of any personal propertyin the insured's inventory) to the insurance company 102 for analysis.

The insurance company 102 uses the estimated value (and the value if anypersonal property, in an inventory, if any) and compares the value tothe insured's existing policy to determine if there is a gap in coverageor if the property is over insured. In the event of a gap, arecommendation for obtaining additional coverage is generated andpresented to the insured (via the mobile device 104). If the additionalcoverage is accepted, processing may continue to issuance of the policywith the updated coverage.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that similar coverage analysesmay be performed for a wide variety of different policy types. Forexample, a coverage analysis may be performed for personal property. Insuch embodiments, the proof of ownership system may be used to identifyand analyze items owned by an insured. Third party data sources may alsobe used in analyzing coverage and claim information associated withpersonal property, as will be described further below.

The mobile device 104 may be any of a number of different types ofmobile devices that allow for wireless communication and that may becarried with or by a user. For example, in some embodiments, mobiledevice 104 is a smart phone such as an iPhone®, a mobile deviceoperating the Android® operating system, or other portable computingdevice having an ability to communicate wirelessly with a remote entitysuch as insurance company 102). In some embodiments, as will bedescribed further below, additional information may be provided to theinsurance company 102 using other data entry or data collection devices(such as, for example, point of sale terminals, inventory managementsystems, or the like).

Features of mobile devices 104 will be described further below inconjunction with FIGS. 5 and 6. Preferably, in some embodiments, mobiledevice 104 is capable of communicating with remote systems (such asinsurance company 102) via wireless communication techniques (as will bedescribed further below in conjunction with FIG. 2), and is furthercapable of capturing information associated with items of personalproperty 106. In some embodiments, the information may be captured usinga camera or other image capture device, while in other embodiments,sensors (such as RFID sensors) may be used. In some embodiments,information identifying property to be added to an insurance inventorymay include data that is key-entered by a user of the mobile device 102.

Pursuant to some embodiments, operation of the mobile device 104 for thecollection and transmission of property related data is controlled byone or more mobile insurance applications stored in a memory of themobile device 104.

In some embodiments, the mobile insurance application includesfunctionality to verify or authenticate the identity of the user so thatthe insurance company 102 can verify that the data was collected fromthe correct user. A number of different verification and authenticationmethods may be used in conjunction with embodiments of the presentinvention. For example, a user may be prompted to enter a securepassword or personal identification number prior to capturinginformation about an item of property and transmitting the informationto the insurance company 102. The verification may be controlled by themobile insurance application or it may require communication with averification system associated with the insurance company 102. In someembodiments, once a user is successfully authenticated or verified, themobile insurance application may prompt the user to capture specificinformation about an item of property (e.g., such as taking one or morephotos, scanning a bar code, entering or capturing a serial number,etc), as well as entering additional meta data associated with the itemso that the information may be transmitted to the insurance company 102and stored in an inventory system 108

Pursuant to some embodiments, data may be transmitted between devicesusing a wireless network. In some embodiments, some, or all, of the datamay be transmitted using other network communication techniques (e.g.,such as satellite communication, RFID, or the like). In someembodiments, some or all of the data transmitted between devices may beencrypted or otherwise secured to prevent intrusion.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which is a block diagram of an examplenetwork environment 200 showing communication paths between a mobiledevice 500 and the insurance provider systems 102 (as well as otherdevices and data sources). The mobile device 500 may be, for example, amobile telephone, PDA, personal computer, or the like. For example, themobile device 500 may be an iPhone® from Apple, Inc., a BlackBerry® fromRIM, a mobile phone using the Google Android® operating system, aportable or tablet computer (such as the iPad® from Apple, Inc.), or thelike. Pursuant to some embodiments, the mobile device 500 may beoperated to capture data associated with one or more items of property,append meta data to the captured data (such as geocode data, time stampdata, user-input data such as tags, etc) and transmit the item data toan insurance provider 102 via a network 210. In general, mobile device500 may be any mobile computing and/or communications device which iscapable of executing the mobile insurance applications described herein.

The mobile device 500 of FIG. 2 can, for example, communicate over oneor more wired and/or wireless networks 210. As an example, a wirelessnetwork can be a cellular network (represented by a cell transmitter212). A mobile device 500 may communicate over a cellular or otherwireless network and through a gateway 216 may then communicate with anetwork 214 (e.g., such as the Internet or other public or privatenetwork). An access point, such as access point 218 may be provided tofacilitate data and other communication access to network 214. Theaccess point 218 may be, for example, compliant with the 802.11g (orother) communication standards.

In some embodiments, mobile device 500 may engage in both voice and datacommunications over the wireless network 212 via access point 218. Forexample, the mobile device 500 may be able to place or receive phonecalls, send and receive emails, send and receive short message service(“SMS”) messages, send and receive email messages, access electronicdocuments, send and receive streaming media, or the like, over thewireless network through the access point 218. Similar communicationsmay be made via the network 212.

In some embodiments, a mobile device 500 may also establishcommunication by other means, such as, for example, wired connectionswith networks, peer-to-peer communication with other devices (e.g.,using Bluetooth networking or the like), etc.

The mobile device 500 can, for example, communicate with one or moreservices over the networks 210, such as service providers 230-260 andthe insurance provider systems 102 (described above in conjunction withFIG. 1 and further below in conjunction with FIG. 3). For example, themobile device 500 may communicate with one or more comparison services230 to obtain comparative pricing information associated with an itemscanned or entered using the mobile device 500. As another example, themobile device 500 may communicate with one or more web services 240 toreceive or transmit data to obtain product details, product warrantyinformation, product replacement information or the like. As a specificexample, in some embodiments, to provide further proof of ownershipand/or price information The mobile device may also be in communicationwith a number of other service providers 260.

The mobile device 500 can also access other data over the one or morewired and/or wireless networks 210. For example, content providers, suchas news sites, RSS feeds, web sites, blogs, social networking sites,developer networks, etc., can be accessed by the mobile device 500. Suchaccess can be provided by invocation of a web browsing function orapplication (e.g., a browser) in response to a user launching a Webbrowser application installed on the mobile device 500.

The mobile device 500 can perform a number of different device functionswhich can be controlled or specified by the insurance company byproviding instructions, data or commands to the mobile device 500. Theinstructions, data or commands may be executed by a processor of themobile device 500 causing the mobile device 500 to be, effectively,under control of the insurance company allowing the insurance company tocontrol the collection of inventory or property information from a user.The mobile device 500 may operate as a telephone, an email device, anetwork communication device, a media player device, etc., under controlof one or more applications installed on the mobile device 500. In someembodiments, a user operating the mobile device 500 may interact withthe applications using a keypad 538 which may be a tactile keypad withindividual keys, or which may be a touch screen keypad. The user ispresented with information and graphics on a display screen 536. Forexample, a user who is operating a mobile insurance application pursuantto the present invention may be presented with a series of userinterfaces which may: (1) instruct the user how to capture dataassociated with an item of property, (2) how to categorize or label theitem of property, (3) whether a serial number or unique identifiershould be entered, and (4) what type of images to capture to properlyidentify the item. In some embodiments, upon submission of a new item ofproperty to a user's inventory, one or more coverage rules may beinvoked to determine if the addition of the item of property causes apolicy limit or coverage to be exceeded. If so, further user interfacesmay be presented to the user instructing the user on their options toremedy the deficiency (e.g., such as obtaining additional coverage,purchasing a special coverage rider, or the like). In some embodiments,information associated with obtaining any needed valuations, appraisals,or third party evaluations of property may also be provided (e.g., inthe case of fine art, jewelry, or the like).

Reference is now made to FIG. 3 which is a schematic diagram of a system300 for collecting property data, evaluating and providing feedback oninsurance, such as insurance related to, or whose pricing is dependentat least in part on items of property including personal property. InFIG. 3, insurance company 320 provides a number of different customers(each labeled as customer 301) with insurance coverage. The type ofinsurance provided by insurance company 320 may be any type of insuranceunder which claims of property loss may be incurred, although thepresent invention is described primarily in terms of personal propertyinsurance (such as homeowner's or renter's policies) and commerciallines insurance (such as insurance for a retailer or business thatcarries or holds inventory or equipment). Insurance company 320 cansimultaneously provide services to multiple customers, includingmultiple different types of customers.

Customers 301 may choose to interact with insurance company 320 usingfeatures of the present invention using different input or data capturedevices. For example, in some embodiments, to be discussed furtherherein, customers such as customer 301 may operate a mobile device 330configured to operate using a mobile insurance application pursuant tothe present invention in order to capture, transmit, and updateinformation about one or more items of property owned by the customer.As another example, in some embodiments, customers such as customer 301may operate business systems 334 to capture, transmit and updateinformation about items of property. For example, business systems 334may include point of sale systems (in the case of a customer that is aretailer), inventory systems (for retailers, warehouses, wholesalers, orthe like), or other computer systems (such as personal computers or thelike). Embodiments of the present invention allow for such customers toeasily capture, transmit and update information about items of propertyto insurance company 320 for use in establishing an insurance inventoryas well as for use in ensuring that the items of property are adequatelycovered by insurance policies.

Mobile device 330, pursuant to some embodiments, stores a mobileinsurance application program that may be loaded onto the mobile device330 from an insurance company 320 or from an application repository(e.g., such as Apple's App Store or the like). The application, whenlaunched, prompts the customer 301 for information used to interact withthe insurance company 320 or to collect and provide property informationto the insurance company 320. A variety of different types of data andinformation may be provided from mobile device 330 to insurance company320, including static data regarding the customer 301, such as thecustomer's name, address, contact information, policy information, etc.Other variable information may be provided (as described in each of themobile application embodiments described herein). Dynamic or collecteddata may also be provided by collecting data from one or more sensor(s)332 in communication with the mobile device 330.

Insurance company 320 has a computer system 319 that includesapplication servers 302, load balancing proxy servers 303, data storageunit 304, business logic computer 322, and user interface module 305 toperform risk evaluation and underwriting based on the collected propertydata and policy information. Employees of the insurance company 320 andother authorized personnel use user interface module 305 to access theinsurance company computer system. User interface module 305 may be anytype of computing device that is configured to communicate with othercomputer systems. User interface module 305 may be connected directly toapplication server 302, or may access an application server 302 via theload balancing proxy servers 303. User interface module 305 may connectto load balancing proxy servers 303 via a local area network, a privatedata link, or via the internet.

Although depicted as being part of insurance company 320 in FIG. 3, userinterface module 305 may be located remotely. The business logiccomputer 322 is connected to the data storage unit 304 and applicationservers 302 over a local area network 321, which may be part ofcommunication system 327. In addition, other network infrastructure,including, for example a firewall, backup servers, and back up datastores, may also be included in the system 319, without departing fromthe scope of the invention. Communications over the local area network321 and/or over the Internet, in one implementation, may be encrypted.In addition, such communications, whether encrypted or not, may also bedigitally signed for authenticating the source of the communications.The computer system 319 may also include a certificate authority toauthenticate one or more of the communications using public keyinfrastructure.

Based on property data collected from the mobile device 330 and anythird party data sources, an evaluation module analyzes and evaluatesdata associated with a customer 301. As used herein, a “module” may beimplemented in software for execution by various types of processors. Anidentified module of executable code may, for instance, comprise one ormore physical or logical blocks of computer instructions which may, forinstance, be organized as an object, procedure, or function.Nevertheless, the executables of an identified module need not bephysically located together, but may comprise disparate instructionsstored in different locations which, when joined logically together,comprise the module and achieve the stated purpose for the module.

As used herein, a module of executable code could be a singleinstruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed overseveral different code segments, among different programs, and acrossseveral memory devices. Similarly, operational data may be identifiedand illustrated herein within modules, and may be embodied in anysuitable form and organized within any suitable type of data structure.The operational data may be collected as a single data set, or may bedistributed over different locations including over different storagedevices, and may exist, at least partially, merely as electronic signalson a system or network. In addition, entire modules, or portionsthereof, may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices suchas field programmable gate arrays, programmable array logic,programmable logic devices or the like or as hardwired integratedcircuits.

A number of different business logic modules may be operated byinsurance company 320 to process data collected by mobile devices 330.For example, an underwriting module may be implemented, for example, inbusiness logic computer 322, and used to underwrite or alter insurancepricing, coverage limits or policy exclusions for customer 301 based onthe received property and inventory data. The business logic module mayuse predictive models, such as neural networks, Bayesian networks, andsupport vector machines, in performing the underwriting and premium orcoverage adjustment. In one embodiment, the business logic moduleoperates as a coverage engine to analyze the current policy coverageassociated with an individual based on the value of the individual'sreported inventory of property. For example, in the event that the totalreported replacement value exceeds the coverage limits, the coverageengine may notify the customer so that an appropriate policy adjustmentmay be made. As another example, in the event that the total reportedreplacement value is less than the coverage limits, the coverage enginemay notify the customer that they are over insured and may suggestpolicy adjustments accordingly. As a still further example, in the eventthat an item or items to be added are excluded from coverage, thecoverage engine may notify the customer that the item(s) are excludedand may propose policy adjustments (such as a rider to provide theadditional coverage).

In some embodiments, insurance company 320 may award a customer 301 thatuses the system of the present invention to maintain their propertyinventory by providing premium discounts, or other advantageous rewards,simply for agreeing to use (and, in some embodiments, actually using)the mobile applications as described above. Insurance company 320 mayaward different discounts depending on the nature and amount of dataprovided by customer.

In one implementation, software operating on the application servers 302act merely as presentation and data extraction and conversion servers.All substantive business logic, including underwriting and pricingdeterminations, is carried out on the business logic computer 322. Inthis implementation, the application servers 302 obtain data from thedata storage unit 304 and the business logic computer 322 andincorporate that data into web pages (or other graphical user interfaceformats). These web pages are then communicated by the applicationservers 302 through the load balancing proxy servers 303 to userinterface module 305 for presentation. Upon receiving input from userinterface module 305, the application server 302 translates the inputinto a form suitable for processing by the business logic computer 322and for storage by the data storage unit 304. In this implementation,the application servers can be operated by third parties, who can addtheir own branding to the web pages or add other customized presentationdata. Alternatively or in addition, at least some of the business logicis also carried out by the application servers 302.

In some embodiments, the application servers 302 are software modulesoperating on one or more computers. One of the computers on which theapplication servers 302 are operating may also serve as the businesslogic computer 322 and/or as a load balancing proxy server 303.

In some embodiments, the software operating on user interface module 305includes a thin or thick client application in addition to, or insteadof a web browser. The thin or thick client application interfaces with acorresponding server application operating on the application server302.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4 which is a flow diagram depicting aprocess 400 for installing and operating a mobile insurance applicationpursuant to some embodiments. Some or all of the steps of process 400may be performed using a mobile device such as the mobile device 104 ofFIG. 1 (or the mobile device 500 described in further detail below inconjunction with FIGS. 5 and 6). As shown, processing begins at 402where a user operating a mobile device 500 installs a mobile insuranceapplication. The mobile insurance application may be installed from themobile device (e.g., by interacting with an application downloadsystem), or from a personal computer in communication with the mobiledevice. The application may be downloaded from the insurance company 320or from an application marketplace (such as the iTunes® Store orAndroid® Store).

The user then launches the mobile application at 404 and entersinformation to personalize the application. For example, the user may beprompted to enter information about themselves as well as their policyinformation so that the mobile insurance application may communicatewith the insurance company and so that the user's policy information maybe monitored and updated based on the property information entered bythe user after the application has been personalized. In someembodiments, the user may be prompted to enter verification informationused to authenticate the user with the insurance systems.

Processing continues at 406 where the user, operating the mobileinsurance application, selects an option to add a new item of propertyto the user's property inventory. At 408 the user interacts with a userinterface or series of user interfaces of the mobile insuranceapplication to enter information about an item to be added to theirinventory, including entering information such as the item purchaseprice and description. The mobile application may also prompt the userto capture specific information about the item, such as one or morephotographs of the item, a serial number, it's location within aresidence or insured property of the user, etc. At 410, the item dataobtained at 408 and other data captured by the mobile device (such as atime stamp, geocode information, and the like) are submitted to aninsurance company over a wireless network. The insurance companyreceives the information, uses it to update an inventory database (suchas the database shown below in FIG. 9) and analyzes the updatedinventory and item information to determine (at 412) if the informationtriggers any policy limits or other rules.

A policy limit or other rule may be triggered in any of a number ofdifferent ways, depending on the rules of the insurer. For example, apolicy limit may be triggered if the addition of the item at 408 causesthe total property value of the user to greatly exceed any policylimits. In such a situation, processing may continue at 414 whereinstructions or information about the issue are presented to the user onthe mobile device. For example, at 414 a notification may be presentedto the user that they are under-insured for their personal property, andmay suggest that a policy rider be obtained or some other increase tothe policy limits. In some embodiments, the user may apply for (and insome situations, bind) the additional coverage by interacting with themobile insurance application on their mobile device.

Policy limit triggers may also be met if the user is underinsured, inwhich case processing at 414 may include notifying the user that theyare over-insured. Instructions on reducing their coverage may beprovided and executed using the mobile insurance application.

In the event that the addition of the item does not meet or set a policylimit trigger, processing continues at 416 where a determination is madewhether the user has additional items of property to add to theirinventory. If yes, processing repeats at 408 and the further items areadded. If no, processing terminates. The user may launch and interactwith the mobile insurance application as needed to add further items ofproperty to their inventory. In this manner, embodiments allow users tomaintain an accurate and up to date inventory of insured property, whilereceiving immediate recommendations and notifications if the additionrequires changes to their existing policy.

Further details of some embodiments of mobile devices that may be usedin conjunction with embodiments of the present invention will now bedescribed by reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. Reference is first made to FIG.5, where details of a mobile device 500 according to some embodiments isshown. As depicted, the mobile device 500 includes a number ofcomponents which may be controlled or perform functions in conjunctionwith one more application programs 510-512 to perform the features ofsome embodiments.

The mobile device 500 can include a memory interface 502 one or moredata processors, image processors and/or central processing units 504,and a peripherals interface 506. The memory interface 502, the one ormore processors 504 and/or the peripherals interface 506 can be separatecomponents or can be integrated in one or more integrated circuits. Thevarious components in the mobile device 500 can be coupled by one ormore communication buses or signal lines.

Sensors, devices and subsystems can be coupled to the peripheralsinterface 506 to facilitate multiple functionalities. For example, oneor more sensors, including biometrics sensors 514 and 528, anaccelerometer 516, a photoelectric device 516, a proximity sensor 520, acamera 522, a wireless communication unit 524, and an audio unit 526 maybe provided to facilitate the collection, use and interaction with dataand information and to achieve the functions of the insuranceapplications described herein.

The mobile device 500 may include one or more input/output (I/O) devicesand/or sensor devices. For example, input controllers 534 may beprovided with a speaker and a microphone (not shown) to facilitatevoice-enabled functionalities, such as phone and voice mail functions.In some implementations, a loud speaker can be included to facilitatehands-free voice functionalities, such as speaker phone functions. Anaudio jack can also be included for use of headphones and/or amicrophone.

The I/O subsystem 530 can include a touch screen controller 532 and/orother input controller(s) 534. The touch-screen controller 532 can becoupled to a touch screen 536. The touch screen 536 and touch screencontroller 532 can, for example, detect contact and movement or breakthereof using any of a plurality of touch sensitivity technologies,including but not limited to capacitive, resistive, infrared, andsurface acoustic wave technologies, as well as other proximity sensorarrays or other elements for determining one or more points of contactwith the touch screen 536.

The other input controller(s) 534 can be coupled to other input/controldevices 538, such as one or more buttons, rocker switches, thumb-wheel,infrared port, USB port, and/or a pointer device such as a stylus. Theone or more buttons (not shown) can include an up/down button for volumecontrol of the speaker and/or the microphone. In some implementations, aproximity sensor 520 can be included to facilitate the detection of theuser positioning the mobile device 500 proximate to the user's ear and,in response, to disengage the touch-screen display 536 to preventaccidental function invocations. In some implementations, thetouch-screen display 536 can be turned off to conserve additional powerwhen the mobile device 500 is proximate to the user's ear.

Other sensors can also be used. For example, in some implementations, aphotoelectric device 518 may be provided to facilitate adjusting thebrightness of the touch-screen display 538. In some implementations, anaccelerometer 516 can be utilized to detect movement of the mobiledevice 500. In some embodiments, the mobile device 500 may includecircuitry and sensors for supporting a location determining capability,such as that provided by the global positioning system (GPS) or otherpositioning system (e.g., systems using Wi-Fi access points, televisionsignals, cellular grids, Uniform Resource Locators (URLs)). In someimplementations, a positioning system (e.g., a GPS receiver) can beintegrated into the mobile device 500 or provided as a separate devicethat can be coupled to the mobile device 500 through a peripheralsinterface 506 to provide access to location-based services.

The positioning and location-based services may be used, for example, totag data transmitted from the mobile device 500 to insurance providersystems 102. For example, such location data may be appended to productinformation captured by a mobile device using a mobile insuranceapplication. The geo location data may assist the insurance company inverifying that an insured actually purchased an item for their own useand may also be used to verify that a claimed item of personal propertywas located at the location claimed by an insured. For example, aninsured who carries a homeowner's policy and who uses features of thepresent invention to create an inventory of personal property may takepictures of each item of property. Each of the pictures may be geotaggedwith location information provided by the positioning and location-basedservices of the mobile device 500. If the homeowner makes a claim underthe policy alleging that one or more of the inventoried items wasdamaged or otherwise impaired, the processing of the claim may verifythat the items were located (at least when inventoried) at the insured'shome. In this way, location based data may be used to enhance claimsprocessing, thereby reducing fraudulent claims and improving theinsurer's ability to quickly and accurately process claims.

The mobile device 500 can also include a camera lens and sensor 520. Insome implementations, the camera lens and sensor 520 can be located onthe back surface of the mobile device 500. The camera can capture stillimages and/or video. The camera may be used, for example, to captureimages of items of personal (or real) property to be added to aninsured's inventory. In some embodiments, the camera can also be used tocapture and process bar codes, serial numbers, product codes and otheridentifying information associated with each item being inventoried.Such identifying information may be stored in or accessible to aninventory system (such as the system 108 of FIG. 1) and used to obtainpricing associated with items that have been inventoried (e.g. such ascurrent market valuations or replacement costs of products that havebeen inventoried).

The mobile device 500 can also include other sensors, including, forexample, sensors used to verify the authenticity or quality of an itemof property to be added to a user's inventory. For example, a mobiledevice 500 may be coupled to (or configured with) a sensor designed todetermine the quality of an object, such as a diamond, precious metal,or the like. The mobile device 500, using the sensor, may perform ananalysis and append the resulting data to a record transmitted to aninsurance company or other entity for further use or analysis. Themobile device 500, using the sensor, may also capture qualitative dataabout an object and transmit the data to an insurance company or one ormore third parties for analysis. The data may also be stored in theuser's product inventory for use in analyzing a loss claim in the future(e.g., to determine whether and how much of a claim should be paid).

The mobile device 500 can also include one or more wirelesscommunication subsystems 524, such as an 802.11b/g communication device,and/or a Bluetooth® communication device. Other communication protocolscan also be supported, including other 802.x communication protocols(e.g., WiMax, Wi-Fi), code division multiple access (CDMA), globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data GSM Environment(EDGE), 3G (e.g., EV-DO, UMTS, HSDPA), etc.

In some implementations, additional sensors or subsystems may be coupledto the peripherals interface 506 via connectors such as, for example aUniversal Serial Bus (USB) port, or a docking port, or some other wiredport connection.

The memory interface 502 can be coupled to memory 508. The memory 508can include high-speed random access memory and/or non-volatile memory,such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices, one or more opticalstorage devices, and/or flash memory (e.g., NAND, NOR). The memory 508can store an operating system, such as Darwin, RTXC, LINUX, UNIX, OS X,WINDOWS, or an embedded operating system such as VxWorks. The operatingsystem may include instructions for handling basic system services andfor performing hardware dependent tasks. In some implementations, theoperating system can be a kernel (e.g., UNIX kernel).

The memory 508 may also store application programs 510-512 which act, inconjunction with the processors 504, to cause the mobile device tooperate to perform certain functions, including the insurance processingand product inventory related functions described herein.

The memory 508 can also store data, including but not limited todocuments, images, video files, audio files, and other data. In someimplementations, the memory 508 stores address book data, which caninclude contact information (e.g., address, phone number, etc.) for oneor more persons, organizations, services, or entities. For example, insome embodiments, the memory stores insurance policy numbers or otherunique identifiers to allow a user of the mobile device 500 to quicklyaccess insurance policy related data and information. In someembodiments, product or item data collected under control of the mobileinsurance application may be stored in the memory 508 (eithertemporarily or for longer periods).

Reference is now made to FIG. 6, where a mobile device 500 is shown. Asshown, the mobile device 500 can launch (and operate under the controlof) one or more application programs by selecting an icon associatedwith an application program. As depicted, the mobile device 500 hasseveral application programs (and corresponding icons), including anmobile insurance application (launched by selecting icon 650), a phoneapplication (launched by selecting icon 610), an email program (launchedby selecting icon 612), a Web browser application (launched by selectingicon 614), and a media player application (launched by selecting icon604). Those skilled in the art will recognize that mobile device 500 mayhave a number of different icons and applications, and that applicationsmay be launched in other manners as well (e.g., using hot keys, dropdown selectors, or the like). For example, a user may have more than onemobile insurance application installed (e.g., such as one mobileinsurance application configured to capture, store and provideinformation about the user's inventory of items covered by a homeowner'sinsurance policy, and a second mobile insurance application configuredto capture, store and provide information about the user's inventory ofitems covered by a commercial lines insurance policy). In the embodimentshown, an application, such as the mobile insurance application, islaunched by the user tapping or touching an icon displayed on the touchscreen 536 interface of the mobile device 500.

Once an application is launched, the user may interact with theapplication, and the mobile device may function pursuant to the programinstructions associated with the application. In the mobile insuranceapplications described herein, details of some aspects of the operationof the mobile device 500 are described; however, those skilled in theart will appreciate that a number of different functions and operationalfeatures may be provided.

Reference is now made to FIG. 7, which shows a block diagram 700 of amobile device 708 being used to capture and transmit data associatedwith an item of property using a mobile insurance application pursuantto the present invention. The block diagram 700 depicts a homeownerusing features of the present invention to add an item of property toher insurance inventory. However, similar features and processes may beused in conjunction with commercial or other types of insurance andusers. As shown, a homeowner 706 is shown operating a mobile device 708to capture data associated with a television 704 that is located in thehomeowner's home 702. For example, the homeowner 706 may be usingfeatures of the present invention to create an inventory of existingitems in her home or she may be adding a newly purchased television 704to an existing inventory.

In either event, the homeowner 706 captures information identifying thetelevision 704 using a mobile device 708. As shown, the mobile device708 captures an image or digital photo of the television 704. Thecaptured image may be displayed to the homeowner 706 so the homeownercan confirm that the image was properly captured and so the homeownercan add other information associated with the item. For example, apersonal property verification form 710 may be displayed on a displaydevice of the mobile device 708 prompting the user to enter further dataassociated with the item. A number of different items of data may beprovided by the user including, for example: a product model number, aserial number, a purchase price, a purchase date, warranty information,the purchase location, or the like. Some or all of the data may becaptured as images or scanned using the mobile device 708 and appendedto an inventory record in the mobile device 708 for transmission to aninsurance system 712. In addition to data entered or captured undercontrol of the user, additional meta data may be captured and appendedto the inventory record. For example, in some embodiments, each recordincludes a time stamp showing when the image or data was captured. Insome embodiments, each record may include location data such as geocodeinformation identifying where the image or data was captured. This datais transmitted to the insurance system 712 under control of a mobileinsurance application executed on the mobile device 708. Each recordtransmitted to the insurance system 712 may further appended with dataidentifying the user and the user's insurance provider or policyinformation. In some embodiments, the records transmitted from themobile device 708 are stored in, or accessible to, an inventory systemdatabase allowing access, retrieval, updating and further interaction bythe user.

In some embodiments, when a new item of personal property (such as thetelevision 704) is added to an insured individual's inventory, theinsurance system 712 invokes a coverage engine or process to analyzewhether the addition of the item causes the insured's inventory ofproperty to exceed the limits of coverage under the applicable insurancepolicy. For example, if the homeowner 706 has a policy with $100,000 ofcoverage for personal property, and the addition of the new television704 causes the value of the homeowner's inventory to exceed $100,000, aprocess may be triggered to notify the homeowner of the fact that shemay be underinsured. In some embodiments, the mobile insuranceapplication, operating in conjunction with the insurance systems 712,may provide the insured with an option to purchase additional coverageto ensure that the insured's property is appropriately covered. The datacollected using such techniques may be used by insurance providers andother entities to make insurance related decisions where legallyallowed.

Similar techniques may be used to capture information about a number ofdifferent items of property at once. For example, the mobile device 708may be operated to capture video images of a room in the house 702. Allof the items in the room may be identified using image processing andeach added to the user's insurance inventory maintained at the insurancesystems 712. The homeowner may tag or add additional information(including information about the date acquired, notes about value, etc)by interacting with the insurance systems 712 using the mobile device708 or other computing devices. A copy of the video images may be storedin conjunction with the inventory to assist in proving ownership of theitems in the inventory. The video images may further be geotagged withlocation information to provide further evidence of the location of theitems (e.g., to show that the items were, indeed, in the user's home orplace of residence).

In some embodiments, the user may be prompted or reminded to performupdates to the inventory on a regular basis. For example, a user may beprompted to perform a full inventory of her home or residence on anannual basis in order to qualify for insurance benefits (or, simply toensure that the insurance inventory is up to date and to confirm thatthe user is properly insured for her items of property).

Similar techniques may be used to capture information about items ofcommercial property, such as items of inventory or equipment. As anexample, the building 702 may be a retail store and a mobile device 708may be operated by an employee 706 to capture information about items ofinventory in stock. Individual images may be captured of each item orvideo images may be captured to identify multiple items of property. Insome embodiments, the mobile device 708 may further be in communicationwith an inventory system of the retailer, allowing information abouteach item in stock to be easily added to the insurance inventoryassociated with the retailer. In this manner, retailers and othercommercial entities may easily add items to their insurance inventoryand receive a determination of whether sufficient coverage for the itemsof property exist.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 8 and 9 which show portions of datatables that may be stored at, or accessible to, an insurance companysuch as, for example, the insurance company 320 of FIG. 3. FIG. 8represents a portion of an insurance policy database 800, and FIG. 9represents a portion of an inventory database 900. Those skilled in theart will appreciate that other data fields and tables will likely beused to fully define and describe policy databases and inventorydatabases and that the portions of tables shown are for illustrative andexplanatory purposes only. FIG. 8 is a tabular view of a portion of apolicy data table 800 in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention. The table 800 includes a number of entries identifyingdifferent insurance policies involving personal property (or other typesof property) for which an inventory or identification of specific itemsof property may be provided pursuant to the present invention. The datain policy table may be created, for example, when new policies areissued by insurance systems such as the insurance system 300 of FIG. 3.

The table 800 defines a number of fields including, for example, apolicy number 802, a policy type 804, policy limits 806, a currentproperty value 808, deductibles 810 and information whether an alarmsystem have been installed 812. The policy number 802 may be a systemgenerated identifier that is used to uniquely identify differentpolicies issued by and/or administered by the insurance company 320. Thepolicy type 804 may be an indicator that identifies the type of policy(e.g., such as a personal policy, a homeowner's policy, a commerciallines policy, or the like). The type of policy may be used to selectdifferent rules and procedures relating to the assessment of insurancecoverage. Limits 806 may include information identifying any coveragelimits associated with the policy identified by policy identifier 802.The coverage limits 806 may be used in an analysis of whether anexisting coverage is sufficient to cover the policy holder given thepolicy holder's current inventory of property. The coverage limits 806may also include exclusions identifying any types of items of propertythat are excluded from coverage by the policy identified by policyidentifier 802.

Current property value 808 is a value (or values) that represent thetotal current value of property associated with a policy based oninformation provided by the policy holder using the system of thepresent invention (including, for example, the total value of all itemsin the policy holder's inventory such as shown below in FIG. 9). Thecurrent property value 808 may be updated each time the policy holderupdates, adds, or removes items of property from their inventory. Insome embodiments, if the current property value 808 exceeds the limits806 for a policy, the policy holder may be notified of the potentialthat their property is underinsured (and may wish to increase theircoverage). In some embodiments, if the current property value 808 isbelow the limits 806, the policy holder may be notified of the potentialthat they are over insured (and may wish to reduce their coverage).

Deductible 810 includes information identifying any deductiblesassociated with the policy identified by policy identifier 802. In someembodiments, if certain participation conditions are met (such asmaintaining an up-to-date inventory, keeping the current property value808 below the limits 806, and securing the property using an alarmsystem), the deductibles may be reduced or modified.

Alarm field 812 includes information identifying whether the propertyinsured by the policy identified by policy identifier 802 is secured byan approved alarm system. In some embodiments, policy holders who havean approved home, residence or business alarm system may qualify forimproved benefits (such as reduced deductibles or increased coverages orlimits).

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other types of data mayalso be provided to identify individual policies; the fields shown inFIG. 8 are for illustrative purposes only. Further, embodiments may beused with other types of policies and coverages with desirable results.

Reference is now made to FIG. 9 where a portion of an inventory datatable 900 is shown. Inventory data table 900 may be stored at, oraccessible to, the insurance company 320 of FIG. 3 and may be used inconjunction with mobile devices 330 and other interfaces (such as Webbrowsers) by insured individuals to track, monitor and report theirinventory of items that are to be covered by an insurance policy issuedby the insurance company 320. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat other data fields and tables will likely be used to fully defineand describe policy databases and inventory databases and that theportions of tables shown are for illustrative and explanatory purposesonly. FIG. 9 is a tabular view of a portion of an inventory data table900 in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. Thetable 900 includes a number of entries identifying specific items ofproperty associated with an insurance policy. The data in inventorytable may be created, for example, when policy holders add or updatetheir inventory using a mobile device 330. Data in inventory table 900may be deleted or removed (or marked as no longer in the policy holder'sinventory) when the policy holder indicates that the property has beensold or otherwise disposed of. For example, in some embodiments relatingto commercial lines policies, items may be removed from the table 900when an item is sold. Information about such sales may be retrieved orprovided from point of sale or other merchant systems, allowing table900 to automatically reflect the current status of a retailer'sinventory.

The table 900 defines a number of fields including, for example, acustomer identifier 902, a policy number 904, an item descriptor 906, aserial number 908, photo(s) 910, capture data 912, a date acquired 914,a purchase price 916, a replacement price 918 and an estimated value920. Each customer (identified by a unique customer identifier 902) mayhave a number of items of property in the inventory table, and may alsohave one or more policy numbers 904 for which items of property areprovided. Each item of property in a customer's inventory may include adescriptor 906 which may include a description provided by the customeror a descriptor captured by scanning an image, bar code, UPC or otherinformation from the product. Some items may have serial numbers 908 orother unique identifiers, which may be used to identify warrantyinformation or otherwise prove ownership of an item in the event a claimis made resulting from a property loss.

One or more photos or other images 910 of the item may be provided(e.g., such as those captured by a camera associated with a mobiledevice when adding the item to the inventory). One or more items ofcapture data 912 may also be provided. Capture data 912 may includegeocode data, time stamp data, or other captured by the mobile devicewhen the item was added to the inventory database. A date acquired 914and purchase price 916 may also be entered. Pursuant to someembodiments, a replacement price 918 and estimated value 920 may beprovided which are based on data retrieved from external sources. Forexample, in the case of a replacement price for a television, the valueshown in field 918 may be obtained on a periodic basis by retrievingcomparable price information from liquid markets for the product. In thecase of a television, for example, comparable price information for themake, model and year of the television may be obtained from eBay orother aftermarkets. The data may be retrieved by scraping or in otherautomated fashion to automatically update data in replacement pricefield 916 as needed. Similarly, an estimated value 920 may be obtainedby retrieving data from publicly available feeds or sources of pricinginformation for a comparable product.

The data from the inventory database 900 may be updated on a regularbasis. Some of the data is updated by customers as they add, update orremove items from their inventory. Other items of data may beprogrammatically updated on a regular or other basis by retrieving datafrom third party sources. For example, in some embodiments, data may beretrieved from credit card or banking systems to update informationabout items of property. As an example, a user may allow the inventorydatabase 900 to access an electronic banking system and update theinventory database 900 with information about items purchased by theuser each month. The user may then manually edit information about eachitem to provide further details or to specify that an item was purchasedas a gift for another or otherwise is not intended to be included in theuser's insurance coverage analysis. Such an interface may allow theinventory database 900 to receive product information as well as apurchase price and purchase date.

As a further example, inventory database 900 may be configured toreceive information from merchant inventory or point of sale systems,allowing the database 900 to automatically update as inventory isreceived and as inventory is disposed of In this manner, a retailer maycreate an insurance inventory that accurately matches their actualinventory, allowing the insurance company to offer accurate pricing andcoverage for the retailer's actual inventory.

The combination of data may be used to trigger coverage analyses of eachpolicy, generating automated notifications to policy holders and agentsof situations where action may be required (e.g., such as in the casewhere a customer is under or over-insured based on the information intheir inventory). Further, in the event that a customer makes a claimassociated with a covered loss, the data from inventory database 900 maybe used to quickly, efficiently, and accurately resolve and settle theclaim.

Thus, embodiments of the present invention may improve the informationavailable to insurers to allow them to better underwrite and administerinsurance policies that are based on or related to an insured'sproperty. Although the present invention has been described inconnection with specific exemplary embodiments, it should be understoodthat various changes, substitutions, and alterations apparent to thoseskilled in the art can be made to the disclosed embodiments withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in theappended claims.

For example, while features have been described where the policy holderoperates a mobile device to capture property information, in someembodiments, agents or third parties may capture property information onbehalf of the policy holder or on behalf of an insurance company. As anillustrative example, a moving company may use one or more mobiledevices configured pursuant to the present invention to create aninventory of a customer's property prior to a move. For example,employees of the moving company may capture information about each itemof property as the items of property are boxed or otherwise prepared forshipping. A label, sticker (such as a bar coded tag) or electronic tag(such as an RFID tag) may be affixed to each item and scanned touniquely identify each item as it is inventoried. Once all of the itemshave been placed into the inventory system, a price or coveragequotation may be issued by an insurance company to insure the customerduring the moving process. A further quotation may also be provided toinsure the property at the customer's destination (e.g., to issue a newhomeowner's policy or renter's policy). Those skilled in the art willrecognize that other features or modifications may also be provided.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer system, comprising: a mobile device, coupled to a sensor for determining quality of items, and configured to execute an application program to capture an image of a first item, generate an interface prompting a user for data relating to the first item, activate the sensor to determine quality of the first item, perform an analysis based on data from the sensor, prompt the user to capture, via a camera of the mobile device, an image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item, receive in response to the prompt an image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item, communicate with one or more comparison services to obtain comparative pricing information associated with the first item employing the at least one of bar code, serial number or product code, and automatically transmit a record including the captured image data, data entered via the user interface, location information automatically captured via a GPS receiver of the mobile device, time information, the image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item, the obtained comparative pricing information, quality data received from the sensor and data resulting from the analysis; the application program being further configured to, responsive to receipt of a response to a request to add an item, automatically display the received response on an interface of the mobile device; a data storage device storing, updating and providing access to data defining a plurality of insurance coverage; a computer processor for executing program instructions and for retrieving said data defining a plurality of insurance coverage rules from the data storage device; a memory, coupled to the computer processor, storing program instructions for execution by the computer processor to: receive, from the mobile device, the transmitted record; analyze stored property inventory data including said received record information, including said comparative pricing information, to determine a current total value of a property inventory including a value of said at least first item to be added; compare said property inventory, said current total value of said property inventory, said location information and said information identifying said at least first item to be added with said data defining a plurality of insurance coverage rules, said plurality of insurance coverage rules including at least a first geographical limit; and generate and transmit to the mobile device a response to said request to add an item based on a result of said comparison, the response including an indication of whether said current total value of said property inventory exceeds one or more of said plurality of insurance coverage rules and whether said location information is within the at least a first geographical limit.
 2. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising program instructions for execution by the processor to receive, from a user operating a mobile device, a request to create a new property inventory, wherein said request to add at least a first item is a request to add said at least a first item to said new property inventory.
 3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein said information identifying said at least first item further comprises: an item type and a date acquired.
 4. The computer system of claim 1, further comprising program instructions for execution by said processor to receive, from at least one of a user operating said mobile device and a retailer, information identifying a value of said at least first item.
 5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein said first image is a still image captured using a camera of said mobile device.
 6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein said first image is a video image including a plurality of images of a plurality of items, said program instructions further comprising program instructions for execution by the computer processor to analyze said video image to extract data associated with each of said plurality of items.
 7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein said insurance rules include at least one of a coverage rule and an exclusion rule.
 8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein said program instructions to analyze said property inventory further comprise program instructions to: obtain a value of at least a first item of said property inventory using a third party data source.
 9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein said program instructions to obtain a value of at least a first item further comprise program instructions to: retrieve a purchase price of said at least first item from a third party database.
 10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein said third party database is a database of financial transactions made by said user.
 11. The computer system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of insurance rules includes a rule specifying a threshold to determine when a message is to be transmitted to said user indicating that said user has insufficient coverage.
 12. The computer system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of insurance rules includes a rule specifying a threshold to determine when a message is to be transmitted to said user indicating that said user has excess coverage.
 13. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the data received from the mobile device further comprises temperature data, said data defining a plurality of insurance coverage rules further comprises an insurance coverage rule that at least one of a room and a product be kept at a certain minimum temperature, and said instructions are further for said computer processor to compare said received temperature data to said insurance coverage rule that at least one of a room and a product be kept at a certain minimum temperature.
 14. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device being configured to execute an application program to capture an image of a first item comprises the mobile device being configured to capture video images of a plurality of items, identifying the images using image processing, and geotagging the images.
 15. A portable wireless communication device, comprising: a communication port; a sensor for determining quality of items; a processor; a memory; and a program, wherein the program is stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the processor, the program including: instructions for detecting a user action to add an item to an insurance inventory of said user; instructions for receiving information identifying an item, including an item type and a date acquired; instructions for activating a sensor, coupled to the portable wireless communication device, for determining quality of an item, to determine quality of the first item, and for performing an analysis based on data from the sensor; instructions for: prompting a user to capture, via a camera of the mobile device, an image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item; receive in response to the prompt an image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item; and communicate with one or more comparison services to obtain comparative pricing information associated with the first item employing the at least one of bar code, serial number or product code, instructions for capturing at least a first image of said item and associating said at least first image with a timestamp and geocode data based on a location of said capturing from a GPS receiver of said portable wireless communication device; instructions for transmitting a request to add said item to a remote insurance processing system, said request including information identifying said user, said item type, said date acquired, said at least first image of said item, said time stamp, said geocode data, the image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item, the obtained comparative pricing information, a result of the analysis and data received from said sensor relating to said item; and instructions for receiving a response from said remote insurance processing system, said response including information based on a comparison of said geocode data and at least a first insurance policy coverage rule specifying a geographical coverage limitation associated with an insurance policy of said user, and responsive to receipt of said response, automatically displaying said response on an interface of said device.
 16. The portable wireless communication device of claim 15, further comprising instructions for capturing an image of a purchase receipt associated with a purchase of said item and converting said image to purchase data including a purchase price, a purchase date and a merchant, wherein said request to add said item further comprises information identifying said purchase price, said purchase date, and said merchant.
 17. The portable wireless communication device of claim 15, wherein said response from said remote insurance processing system is based on the application of other insurance processing rule associated with the insurance policy of said user.
 18. The portable wireless communication device of claim 15, further comprising a touch-sensitive display screen.
 19. The device of claim 15, further comprising instructions for receiving information about the item from an inventory system of a retailer and the instructions for transmitting further comprising transmitting the information about the item received from the inventory system of the retailer.
 20. A computerized data processing method, comprising: by a mobile device, coupled to a sensor for determining quality of items, executing an application program to capture an image of a first item, generate an interface prompting a user for data relating to the first item, activate a sensor to determine quality of the first item, perform an analysis based on data from the sensor, prompt the user to capture, via a camera of the mobile device, an image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item, receive in response to the prompt an image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item, communicate with one or more comparison services to obtain comparative pricing information associated with the first item employing the at least one of bar code, serial number or product code, and automatically transmit a record including the captured image data, data entered via the user interface, location information automatically captured via a GPS receiver of the mobile device, time information, the image of one or more of a bar code, serial number or product code of the first item, the obtained comparative pricing information, a result of the analysis, and quality data received from the sensor; and further executing the application program to, responsive to receipt of a response to a request to add an item, automatically display the received response on an interface of the mobile device; receiving, from a mobile device, a request to update a status of an item of property in an insurance inventory associated with a commercial insurance policy, said request including at least one of (i) information identifying said item as an item to be added to said insurance inventory and including at least a first image of said item and information identifying a geographical location of said item based on information received via a GPS receiver of the mobile device, and (ii) information identifying said item as an item to be removed from said insurance inventory; updating an inventory system in response to said request to update a status of said item of property in said insurance inventory associated with said commercial insurance policy, said updating including computing a total current value of said insurance inventory in response to said request to update; operating a coverage engine to compare coverage limits associated with said commercial insurance policy to said total current value of said insurance inventory and said information identifying a geographical location of said item to determine if said total current value is within a coverage limit of said commercial insurance policy and if said geographical location of said item is within at least a first geographical limit of said commercial insurance policy; and transmitting a response to said mobile device based on said determination.
 21. The computerized data processing method of claim 20, further comprising: receiving, from a merchant associated with a sale of said new item of property to said user, information identifying a price of said new item.
 22. The computerized data processing system of claim 21, wherein said receiving from a merchant further comprises receiving information identifying a serial number of said new item.
 23. The computerized data processing method of claim 20, wherein said insurance policy is a commercial policy and said new item is at least one of an item of inventory and an item of equipment. 